What floor are you on? How was the condo constructed? Was it wood framed with ceement poured in between? Steel framing ? Solid concrete between floors? Post tensioned?

2nd floor. I wasn't there to watch the condo being built so I am unable to answer questions about framing or posts. I did see a concrete-looking stuff under my carpet padding when I replaced it. Sorry not to be more helpful. I did visit the city civil engineering office before buying to ask about the soil because I had read about liquefaction (we are pretty close to a dry riverbed). I was told the complex of 240 condos is build on partial fill, not bedrock.

A marble will roll on the slightest inclination. Although it's desirable for a floor to be perfectly level, many aren't. The first thing I would want to know is how out of level is it? Do you have a 4' or longer level or a laser level you can use to determine how much slope there is from one side to the other?

Yes, I do own one of those. I used it (after the marble) and it shows the floor is not level (the bubble is all the way out of the center lines). How do I measure exactly how much out of level it is with this tool? Thanks.

I will try this tonight! Thanks.

The slope is 1/2 inch over 4 feet. Not happy. ;-0 In another area I measured (a much shorter span/length), the slope is more than 1/2 inch. I will be hiring a structural engineer to inspect. The foundation guy said he was not interested in coming since I am not on the ground floor (he said it's not a foundation issue).

My level of chumminess won't allow for that. I did inspect two other garages right next to mine (the garages are under the first floor units and are sometimes unlocked). I was looking for signs of termite damage, large cracks. Neither of them had the ceiling cracks that my garage drywall has. I saw no foundation cracks. There were minimal water leakage stains on the ceilings, but I have that, too. When they investigated my leak, they found no leaking pipe. It dried out and was closed back up.

It's good you didn't see any foundation cracks, but that doesn't mean that:

1) the foundation hasn't settled in some places, or

2) the foundation wasn't poured out of plumb originally.

quick followup I just moved into a condo and am on the first floor and noticing a noticeable slant developing as well. What did the structural engineer find?

It has taken me a while to find a structural engineer who recommended by a real estate broker I know. When I hire him, I will post the findings. In the meantime, I had a "junker" come and take away 7 pieces of heavy, mostly oak with MDF furniture (foot locker, end tables). Hoping against hope that the wood joists are resilient enough to return to normal. Tim Garrison (SE) wrote in an article that sometimes when heavy objects are removed, the floor "recovers". So far, that's not happening. To keep my original post uncomplicated, I did not mention the tree. A huge tree outside seems to have lifted the sidewalk in places. (Only a guess. It may have been caused by soil movement, like when it rained excessively 10 years ago washing away soil.) I can see where property management grounded down the lifted cement to make it safe. I have imagined that my condo is actually lifting in front (from the tree roots), causing me to feel like the back end is sloping downward. But the imagination can go a little crazy if you allow it. I have checked the foundation and stucco outside and there is nothing (cracks) to indicate any heaving.

Tree roots do not lift concrete foundations. That according to the arborist that just visited our HOA.

cocoa-

I am sorry to say that this kind of problem is not attributable to heavy furniture or trees. Something more basic and significant is wrong here.

I am relieved it could not be the tree!! It may have lifted the sidewalk but my thought has been, "Why would it be lifting my upstairs unit, but not the first floor unit?" BTW, I got the "remove heavy furniture" information from a Tim Garrison article. He is a respected Structural Engineer working out of Washington state.

If a floor is constructed according to code there shouldn't be a problem unless you decide to locate heavy weights in the center of a large room. If there is tremendous weight in a specific location, it could cause some deflection, but not permanent, noticeable sloping. I don't believe that things like end tables would do anything significant. The fact that your floors haven't "recovered" tells me that the problem is something other than heavy furniture. What do you think the weight of the furniture you removed was?